Path of Dragons

A silvery moon hung high in the sky as Elijah sat atop one of Ironshore’s buildings, watching the proceedings below. The residents were in a celebratory mood, and rightly so. By the time he had returned from the Trial of Primacy, those people had already made peace with their own demise. Some had held out hope of survival, but everyone knew the cost of surrender. After all, dark elves were not known for their fair treatment of other races, and they were especially hateful of goblins, dwarves, and gnomes. The only people they found more detestable were other sorts of elves.

Because of that, Elijah’s arrival had been met with no small amount of pessimism. Certainly, most of them remembered what he’d done in the first Battle of Ironshore against the orcs, but the numbers arrayed against the defenders were far more daunting this time around. What they hadn’t expected was how much Elijah had grown during the Trial of Primacy.

In truth, Elijah sometimes skated past that improvement as well. Back then, he’d struggled to tip the balance in Ironshore’s favor, and even then, he’d nearly died. That wasn’t a new occurrence for him – he had made a habit of courting death, especially of late. So, he’d expected something similar this time around, especially considering that there were a few actual powerhouses among the dark elves.

That wasn’t what had happened.

He’d had help from Kurik and, unexpectedly, from Miguel. However, in hindsight, he knew he hadn’t really needed it. With enough time, he could have killed every single dark elf invader, and he doubted that it would have even been that straining.

The fact was that Elijah had become an entirely new person. From the moment he’d washed ashore in the wake of the World Tree’s touch, he’d fought countless life-or-death battles. From the time he was digested in the stomach of a monstrous orca to being ripped in half by a powerful necromancer, Elijah had experienced more in the space of the last five-plus years than any human had a right to endure.

In terms of power, he’d taken commensurately huge strides forward. Most recently, he’d reached the end of the mortal realm, and with only a little effort, he could take his largest step yet. Class evolution beckoned, taunting him with the sheer weight of increased power he could have at his fingertips.

He only had to visit the Branch of the World Tree, and he could once again transform himself. He didn’t know how – he’d yet to even look at his options – but everything he’d read told him that it would be an absolute game-changer.

That made it incredibly difficult to resist evolving his class, even if he had good reasons to do just that. When a dragon of godly power tells you to wait, it’s probably a good idea to follow that advice – especially when she supported her command with basic logic. If he waited until he’d taken the next step in Soul and Core cultivation, his potential evolution would be far more powerful than it otherwise would be.

And considering that was the foundation upon which his entire future would be built, it didn’t take a genius to recognize that waiting was the right move.

Still, it wasn’t easy, and it left him feeling unsatisfied despite everything he’d accomplished. By all rights, he had just as much – if not more – reason to celebrate as any of those people below. After all, he’d not only survived the Trial of Primacy when so many others had not, but his friends had made it as well. In addition, he’d gotten the top spot, which was a balm to his competitive spirit and a confirmation that he was on the right track.

He’d even gotten good news only a few hours before when he’d received a very pertinent notification:

Due to reaching a threshold, level rewards earned via the Trial of Primacy will be awarded after class evolution. All experience gained will be banked until after class evolution. Diminishing returns will apply.

It was quite a relief, especially considering that he’d half expected those levels to have been lost entirely. It was even more encouraging that any experience gained in the interim would still provide some benefit. The mention of diminishing returns would prevent him from exploiting that system, though.

Basically, he had no reason – aside from impatience – not to stick to Kirlissa’s advice. That didn’t make it any easier, especially given Elijah’s impulsive nature. He didn’t enjoy following directions, and his first instinct was to simply do the opposite just to prove he could.

He pushed those childish thoughts aside, though. Kirlissa had changed his life when she’d granted him the Dragon Core, and she’d given him good advice – infrequent as it was – so far. He had no reason to think she would steer him wrong.

“Not celebratin’?” came a familiar voice. Elijah had felt Kurik coming, so he wasn’t surprised when the dwarven Sapper sat beside him.

Elijah shrugged. “I know I probably should be,” he said. “It was an important victory. But I just can’t help but think about everything else we need to do.”

“Aye,” the dwarf responded, drinking from a mug of beer he’d brought with him. Or maybe it had been inside his Key of Twisted Ether. Regardless, he hadn’t brought one for Elijah. “That’s life for important folks. Always someone clamoring for your attention. Glad I ain’t important.”

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“You’re selling yourself short,” Elijah pointed out. “You took out as many of those dark elves as I did. Probably more, when everything was said and done. Something tells me you’re going to be just as busy as I am.”

“Hope not,” Kurik stated. “But I think we both know why you’re really up here.”

“Oh?”

“You feel apart,” the dwarf answered. “I feel it too. Ever since I got back. Those people down there, they ain’t seen the things we’ve seen. And I think there’s somethin’ about gettin’ to a certain level. You start to see normal folks as…less solid. Every one of them down there, they’ll be dead in a couple hundred years. Maybe a couple will push past the Mortal Realm. Maybe all of ‘em. I don’t know. But it’ll take ‘em forever, and the longer it takes, the less it impacts their longevity. Me and you, though? You’re already at the peak, right?”

“Yeah. Not choosing my evolution, though. Not until I finish a couple of things.”

“Cultivation?”

Elijah nodded.

“You’re close?”

“I think so. I know the steps. I just need time to put it all to work. I might not have time, though,” Elijah said. “Forty-five days. That’s what the notification said. That’s how long we have until the Primal Realms are active again. I need to get to Hong Kong before that.”

“My advice – don’t cut yourself short,” Kurik said. “Short-term gains ain’t worth hurtin’ your future.”

“Even if those short-terms gains might be the difference between living and dying? What if evolving my class is the only way I can save Hong Kong?” Elijah wondered. “I mean, maybe it won’t come to that. Maybe I can do it all in forty-five days. But if it comes down to it, do I go in at less than maximum power? Or do I just take what I can get and hope to improve later?”

Kurik took another swig that went on for long enough for the dwarf to drain the entire mug. When he finished, he let out a sigh, saying, “I missed good beer. As to your question, I don’t know. Glad it ain’t me as has to answer it.”

“You’re a huge help,” Elijah muttered. “Especially since you didn’t bother getting –”

Before he could finish that sentence, Kurik reached into a portal associated with his Key of Twisted Ethera and retrieved a small keg. “Here,” he said, shoving another mug into Elijah’s hand. After that, the pair spent a long while just sitting on the roof and finishing the contents of the keg.

It wasn’t enough to inebriate Elijah, but it definitely helped him relax a little. By contrast, Kurik had clearly imbibed quite a bit already, and it wasn’t long before he was passed out and drooling on Elijah’s shoulder.

After sitting there for a while, Elijah gathered his friend and leaped from the roof. He landed lightly, startling a couple of celebratory townspeople. When they saw it was him, they quickly looked the other way. Clearly, his reputation hadn’t gotten much better, and they were all still terrified of him.

Not unreasonable, given the things they’d seen him do. Slaughtering orcs and island invaders was one thing, but killing so many dark elves without incurring any injuries of his own put him on an entirely different tier. As regrettable as that was, Elijah considered that reputation a good thing. If nothing else, it would keep them away from his island, which was more important than being accepted in town.

Carrying Kurik over his shoulder, Elijah set off through town, eventually arriving at the Imperium. The hotel hadn’t incurred any damage during the battle, which meant that it looked just as ritzy as ever. More importantly, Elijah already knew the proprietor, so it only took a few minutes before a hotel worker took Kurik off his hands. It cost Elijah a bit of ethereum, but he had plenty to spare.

Once that was done, Elijah stepped outside with the intention of joining the merrymaking. However, as he looked at the crowds of people, he thought better of that notion. Instead, he used Shape of Sky, and as soon as his transformation was complete, he launched himself into the air.

Even as he felt the cool wind race across his multi-colored scales, he heard a few screams of alarm coming from below. Apparently, the sight of a giant dragon-like creature was enough to incite at least a little panic. Hopefully, they would remember that it was just Elijah.

Though, after only a moment’s worth of thought, he found himself wondering if that was a good thing or not. Chances were, they knew precisely who he was, and that was why they’d screamed.

Regardless, Elijah flapped his wings, gaining a little altitude before banking around the town and making his way toward his island. He could have just used Roots of the World Tree to teleport directly to the grove, but that seemed like such a waste. It took less than a minute to cross the strait between the coast and his island, but he remained in the air, circling the region for almost twenty minutes.

It was so infrequent that he had the chance to revel in the fact that he could fly. It had never been one of his main fantasies, but anyone who grew up on comics and cartoons had considered it. Elijah was no different, and the notion that he could fly brought with it a sense of freedom and power that he could scarcely describe.

But that lasted only so long before he caught sight of something that, if the Shape of Sky was capable of smiling, would have had him grinning. As it was, he quickly landed in a dell of dappled moonlight, where he found a family of lunar deer waiting. Briefly, they were startled, but the guardians were intelligent enough to recognize Elijah when they saw him. They remained in place as he regained his human form.

The two juveniles had grown quite a lot, but the parents looked much the same. However, Elijah was gratified to see that they were healthier than ever before – probably due to the grove’s influence.

Elijah didn’t approach. The creatures were not pets, after all. They were still wild animals, and they deserved to live their lives without some handsy Druid groping them. Still, he found their presence – as well as the dell itself – soothing. So, he didn’t waste any time before sitting upon a bed of soft moss, closing his eyes, and focusing on his core.

He’d spent only a little time working on his core cultivation, but he’d discovered a few things over the past few months. The first came from a guide he’d bought long ago, and it specified that progressing to the next stage required very particular preparation. Specifically, he needed to develop a technique to both thicken his store of ethera while expanding his core.

The latter was easy enough, and it required him to cycle foreign ethera into his core and hold it there. Most of it would dissipate, but the little bit that remained would, over time, expand the bounds of his core.

The second factor he had discovered was that it would be much easier to take that next step once everything else had already advanced. It wasn’t an out-and-out requirement, but the guides he’d read treated it as almost the same thing. So, he would see much better results once he advanced his Soul. For now, though, he was just experimenting. Before he made any real attempts, he would advance his Soul, which was far closer to reaching the next stage.

And finally, Elijah had found that the process was facilitated when he could visualize the process. The images themselves didn’t matter so much. Rather, what really counted was that it helped him to understand concepts that, even with nine facets of his Mind working overtime, would have been impossible for him to comprehend.

So, as he cycled foreign ethera into his core, Elijah experimented with different visualization techniques. He didn’t expect to make any huge strides, but that was fine. He was more interested in distracting himself than with real improvement.

Tomorrow, that would need to change, though. He only had so much time, and he didn’t have the luxury of wasting it.

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